Summer Months’ Work if a Campaign is on Your Mind
If you’re counting down the days to July because you plan to take a serious work exhale, I feel you (and plan to join you). It’s not sustainable to function at a sprint's pace all calendar year. If you’re considering a campaign, though, what should you be doing differently this summer?
The biggest mistake I see nonprofits make when they have a campaign on their mind is wasting those calm, breezy months not planning!
Need to finalize that strategic plan before you wrap your arms around formally funding it? Establish a goal of having the written draft ready for board approval by August 1 so the fall isn’t spent trying to write and execute on a million fundraising activities. Remember, work smarter not harder with your vision: no one will read a 40-page binder that ends up collecting dust, but they will take the time for a four-page document that outlines who you are, where you’re going, and why! This is the perfect foundation for a Case for Support later on.
Thinking that the fall will be the perfect time to start planning for the campaign because you’ll finally have everyone’s attention? It’s true that our donors tend to be more focused on philanthropy in the fall – but that’s because they also tend to be philanthropic at that time, too! Planning as much as you can before the fall hits saves you from trying to solicit gifts, write a case for support, and think about the timing of feasibility interviews all within a couple of month’s time. In my dream world (should the fall be your time to shine), ideas, goals, and documents are squared away by mid-August, and invitations to participate in a feasibility study hit inboxes right after Labor Day.
Hoping to get board buy-in for campaign planning after the summer since meetings are sporadic in the quieter months? If you can grab ‘em before they hit the beach, please do! Boards love to hit the ground running when the summer ends and it feels like time to get back to business. But if you’re still at the early thinking, discussing, and deciding stages in September and October, it will feel nearly impossible to squeeze anything into November and December before the holiday rush is upon us. Meet with the board virtually, and update them by email to keep the flow going around what to expect in a campaign – and make important decisions before you all take a breather as you can, so that when it’s time to work, you don’t feel like your wheels are spinning in decision-mode.
So, what do we do?
Use the summer to get your Vision finalized and Case for Support drafted, if it’s not already done. You can use an existing strategic plan to create a Case for Support (remember, this document is concise, informative, and tells the audience who you are, why you’re planning an initiative, what it’ll accomplish, and how much it’ll cost).
All campaign planning processes require soliciting feedback from your constituents before you get too far – we need to create a list of potential interviewees for a study so that they can offer us their honest prospective.
Who should this include? Longtime, substantial donors. New donors who have given relatively large gifts, even if just once. Prospective donors who have not given at all or just small gifts to-date but have capacity to do more. Important, influential people in your community who may be great connectors. Board leadership.
You might even be in a position to begin interviews with constituents who could be well-positioned to make their campaign pledge in this calendar year. I know some months are hard, especially in certain parts of the country – but many people remain available in June or throughout certain weeks at the end of summer and would welcome an hour long conversation now, knowing they’ll have this on their mind more seriously in just a few months! I always remind my clients that donors want to know what we’ve got cooking.
Gone are the days when campaigns have no place in sunny summer months. Let’s do some of the behind the scenes work now, and get out of ahead of the September rush!
